It used to be that before giving kids a dog, parents would ask if they were ready to take care of all responsibilities for the dog. And now? Far too many adults don’t even ask this question of themselves. Increasingly, we are aurally assaulted by dogs hollering at us from parked cars, tied up at the fronts of stores or the library, and most of all, from fenced yards. It is a chronic problem, steadily getting worse.

Imagine, irresponsible dog owner, if someone stood at your fence hollering at anything and nothing, or parked at your house blasting the car horn at you, on and on. Pretty rude, obnoxious and hostile, right? This is what it’s like on the public side of your fence. Owning a dog is like having a kid; you don’t just say, ‘Hey, I want one of those,’ and then completely neglect teaching it to behave.

Sending pointless noise over your fence is no different in principle than throwing garbage over your fence. Town life is too crowded for this kind of inconsiderate behavior. Please step up to your responsibility, don’t just turn up your TV. Thank you.

Jeff Perry

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